Editorial

Inter-American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy - IASED

Memories 2014-2016

Fabián Emura, MD, PhD, FASGE,1, Jorge Iván Lizarazo, MD.2

(1) Advanced Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Emura LatinoAmerica Center. Division of Gastroenterology, Universidad de La Sabana. Digestive Exploration Unit, Clínica Universitaria Colombia. Emura Foundation for the Promotion of Cancer Research. Bogotá, Colombia.

(2) Division of Gastroenterology at the Hospital de La Samaritana in Bogotá, Colombia.

Keywords: Inter-American Society of Endoscopy, SIED, SPED, Cartagena

Received:     15-09-16     Accepted:     17-09-16

On September 6, 1973 the Inter-American Society of Digestive Endoscopy (SIED) was founded to bring together gastroenterologists with special interests in gastrointestinal endoscopy. Between 1981 and 1983 Dr. Arecio Peñaloza Rosas was president. The general assembly of SIED again chose Colombia to lead the organization from 2014 to 2016 and to co-organize, together with the Pan-American Gastroenterological Association (OPGE), Pan American Digestive Disease Week. It has been a privilege, but also a great responsibility, to pull the strings of the highest maximum grouping of endoscopy societies of our continent. What follows is, without being exhaustive, the extent of the academic and administrative management of SIED 2014-2016.

Policies to consolidate the administrative structure were implemented through the executive committee of the President, Dr. Fabian Emura (Colombia); Secretary, Dr. Jorge Ivan Lopez (Colombia); local treasurer, Dr. Belén Mendoza Molano (Colombia).; and general treasurer, Dr. Jorge Orillac (Panama). New appointments were made to existing committees including Dr. Roque Saenz (Chile) to the, education committee, Dr. David Carr-Locke (United States) to the scientific committee, Dr. Guido Villa-Gomez (Bolivia) to the terminology committee, and Dr. Angel Zarate (Mexico) to the publications committee. In addition, new ad-hoc committees to allow better organizational performance and execution of the academic and organizational plans of SIED were also created. Dr. Juan Miguel Abdo (Mexico) was appointed to the nominating committee, Dr. Asadur Tchekmedyian (Uruguay) to the communications and website committee, Dr.Nancy Machaca (Peru) to the gastric cancer committee, Dr. Cecilio Cerisolí (Argentina) to the colorectal cancers committee, and Dr. David Carr-Locke (United States) to the committee for defining criteria. The management of the various committees was excellent and their various accomplishments contributed substantially to the success of this administration. Three general assemblies were successfully held: one in Washington in May 2015; another in San Diego in May 2016; and the final one in Cartagena in September 2016 (Figure 1). SIED was part of the financial and academic co-organization of the most widely recognized conferences on the continent, and, for the first time, SIED provided partial financial support for our speakers and presenters.  We also organized joint symposia with local societies including the Uruguayan Congress of Endoscopy in Punta del Este in 2014, DDW in Washington in 2015, the Central American Congress of Gastroenterology in Punta Cana in 2015, the Congress of the Mexican Association of Gastroenterology in Mazatlan in 2015, the Argentine Congress of Endoscopy in Tucumán in 2015, SBAD in Curitiba in 2015, ACED in Bogotá in 2016, and DDW in San Diego in 2016. Importantly, we achieved the first World Summit of Presidents of Digestive Endoscopy held in Bogota on March 11, 2016 during the International Course of Endoscopy - ACED (Figure 2).

On the financial side, SIED increase its assets considerably as the result of new contributions and payment of arrears from various affiliates combined with minimal expenses related to internal functioning and participation in conferences. Beyond our continent, SIED has consolidated itself as a fundamental participating member with voice in the World Organization of Endoscopy (WEO) at in meetings held in Washington in 2015, in Barcelona in 2015, and in San Diego in 2016. SIED is also a co-organizer of the ENDO Endoscopy World Congress to be held in Hyderabad, India in 2017 with a significant presence of Latin American expert speakers and presenters. Finally SIED has been fundamental for the Pan-American Congress in Cartagena which it strategically organized jointly with the Pan American Gastroenterology Organization (OPGE), the Colombian Society of Gastroenterology and the Colombian Association of Endoscopy (ACED) and which was led by the 2016 President of SPED, Dr. Luis Carlos Sabbagh. The 2016 Pan American Congress attracted more than 220 renowned speakers from around the world including the special participation of Dr. Barry J. Marshall, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of Helicobacter pylori. The broad, up-to-date academic program required four days with simultaneous presentations in classrooms for more than 2,600 attendees. According to the most critical international opinion, "SPED Cartagena 2016 exceeded all expectations, lifted Colombia and its leaders, and put the academic and organizational level of the Pan American Congress on a difficult pace to match, at the level of DDW and UEGW."

A transcription of the greeting of the President of SIED to the opening ceremony of SPED 2016 in Gethsemane auditorium of the Convention Center of Cartagena de Indias (QR code) on 10 September 2016 follows.

Buenas noches, Good evening, Minasan konnichiwa. ¡Bienvenidos a Colombia!

Pan American Digestive Disease Week (Semana Paname-ricana de Enfermedades Digestivas - SPED) in Cartagena has been specifically designed for gastroenterologists and endoscopists, but also for researchers and physicians from other specialties, for general practitioners, nurses working in endoscopy, residents and medical students. It offers wide, varied and up-to-date topics in diagnosis and treatment of various gastrointestinal illnesses and has brought leading speakers from Asia, Europe, the United States and Latin American here to Colombia. SPED Cartagena has as co-organizers the largest and most prestigious associations of gastroenterology and endoscopy in the world including the WGO, WEO, ASGE, AGA, ACG, JGES, UEG and all of the endoscopy and gastroenterology societies in the Americas.

The advancement of endoscopy has been rapid in the past two decades. Particularly in recent years there have been many new endoscopic procedures that are useful for minimally invasive treatment of various gastrointestinal disorders. The book "¿Cómo y dónde entrenarse en procedimientos endoscópicos avanzados?" ("How and where to rain oneself in advanced endoscopic procedures?") in our Latin American countries, published by myself and Dr. Roque Saenz, is a contribution by SIED to all the participants in SPED 2016. This book was made possible thanks to the collaboration of Latin American experts in each of these emerging disciplines.

SPED Cartagena is the culmination of my two years as president of the Inter-American Society of Digestive Endoscopy (SIED). I give special thanks to all those who worked with SIED during these 2 years. In particular, I want to highlight the work of Dr. Jorge Ivan Lizarazo (Colombia) the Secretary of SIED; Belén Mendoza de Molano (Colombia), the local treasurer; Jorge Orillac (Panama), the general treasurer; Enrique Paredes (Mexico), the Vice President for the North American Area; Alberto Santana (Dominican Republic), the Vice President for the Central American Area; and Eduardo de Moura (Brazil), the Vice President for the South American Area. I also want to thank the coordinators of the different programs of SIED 2014-2016: David Carr-Locke (United States), scientific and criteria definition committee; Roque Saenz (Chile), education committee; Asadur Tchekmedyian (Uruguay), media committee; Juan Miguel Abdo (Mexico), nominating committee; Cecilio Cerisoli (Argentina), colorectal cancer committee; and Nancy Machaca (Peru), gastric cancer committee.

In May 2009 I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Barry Marshall in Chicago during a meeting hosted by my good friends David and Kristine Peura. Besides the obvious talk to him about Helicobacter, which he insisted be put off for another day, I have asked him for five consecutive years whether he would agree to come to Colombia. I said, "Colombia is a wonderful country!" Today, I am pleased that he is here, in our midst, with his wife, Adrianne. This is one of the few times a Nobel Prize winner in the field of medicine has visited Colombia, and he is a gastroenterologist! What a privilege!

SPED 2016 would not have been possible without the support of the pharmaceutical and endoscopy equipment industries who resolutely have supported this great project from the beginning. To all of them, my sincere thanks. We must also acknowledge the great work of the executive committee, headed by Dr. Luis Carlos Sabbagh, the support of CCM and Mr. Lucio Baquero, the support of the Colombian association of endoscopy and its president, Dr. Raul Canadas, and the support of the Colombian association of gastroenterology and its president, Dr. Luis Fernando Pineda. And also to the collaboration of colleagues in Cartagena and on the Atlantic Coast, and to all who have somehow contributed to the organization and conduct of this great Pan-American Congress.

I want to deeply thank God and my family, Noriko, my parents Arturo and Eyder Emura, for their unconditional support. I also want to acknowledge my teachers and mentors at the National Cancer Center in Tokyo, Doctors Ichiro Oda, Yutaka Saito and Takahisa Matsuda, and Dr. Hisao Tajiri at Jikei University.

Finally, on behalf of the four organizing societies, the OPGE, SIED, ACED and ACG, I open SPED Cartagena 2016. ¡Colegas y amigos de todo el mundo, disfrutemos el Congreso Panamericano de Cartagena! Colleagues and friends from all over the world, lets enjoy Panamerican Congress in Cartagena! ¡Minasan, Cartagena no Panamerican tanoshii mimashoo!

Fabian Emura

Inter-American Society of Digestive Endoscopy-SIED

President 2014-2016

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Anna Shiwa Global Editing & Translation Services for the contribution of editing and review of this manuscript. This work was supported in part by the Plan for Cancer Control in the Americas of the Emura Foundation for the Promotion of Cancer Research.